We were asked by the ROC professional training school in Apeldoorn in the Netherlands to design the new reception area of the economics department.
The starting point of our design was the floor, which represents the complexity and diversity of economical processes in modern society. We thought of this space as a temple for economics, in old temples you see a lot of symbolics and references, somehow this richness of meaning is seldom found in modern design and architecture. In this project we have tried to restore symbolic richness in the context of contemporary design and production techniques.
From the floor we elevated the necessary functional objects:
- A conference room in the shape of a factory, the cradle of all industrial goods.
- The reception desk formed by abstracted crate shapes, representing transportation.
- A meeting table in the shape of a five meter long key, representing real-estate but also a world of opportunities for graduated students.
- Stools as calculator buttons, numbers being the language of economics.
- A table football game with it's scaled down stadium, representing the economics of leisure.
At the center of the floor design we find a student with a huge heart, a little reminder that the heart should be the starting point of economic decisions (... not the wallet!).
